By Joseph Chambers
The Antichrist will be the most vicious beast that has ever been known by man or that has been revealed to this world. His lineage from the Assyrians could not be more fitting. They were evil and they enjoyed being evil. They treated their enemies or captives in the vilest fashion that our human imagination could think. The ruins of their ancient palaces are filled with grotesque carvings in stone as a testimony to the evil ingeniousness of their character. They were in life and in battle a foretaste of what the Antichrist will be as the final dictator for Satan. The prophets have made it clear that the Antichrist will be an Assyrian.
A prophet named Isaiah spoke of this future beast that attacked and destroyed the Northern kingdom of Israel. “O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.” (Isaiah 10:5-6). Then, Isaiah gave another part of the prophecy that is yet to be fulfilled. “That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders.” (Isaiah 14:25). This has never been fulfilled, so we know it is about the future Antichrist. He spoke of this Assyrian in clear end time chronology to leave no doubt as to His meaning. “And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall shew the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones. For through the voice of the LORD shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod.” (Isaiah 30:30-31). The final Antichrist of this thirteenth chapter of Revelation must be that Assyrian. Even Micah spoke of his death in the gate of Nimrod, which is none other than Ancient Babylon being revisited at this very hour.
To add to the prophetic miracles that are occurring all over the world this Assyrian beast represents an unspeakable mystery that can finally be understood. Except for a few historians and the people of Assyrian lineage, nobody in prophetic literature even considered that there were Assyrian people alive right up to this very time in history. Almost as mysterious as the Jews, but completely off the radar, the Assyrians as a distinct people have survived the centuries with clear unmistakable identity. Living mostly in their own conclaves, they have survived great odds to now surface in Northern Iraq and other nations where they have fled. For them to presently be involved in uniting their own culture and to be a voice in the new Iraq government cannot be less than perfect planning on the part of our Creator.
There are very distinct, positive plans for the future of the Assyrians in the Bible. Indeed they will produce the Antichrist, but this should not and does not indict the present Assyrian people as bad themselves. The Antichrist must arise from a culture and a people that pledge allegiance to the God of the Bible which the Assyrians do and have done since the day of Jesus Christ. Daniel said, “Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.” (Daniel 11:37). But, a much greater future awaits this ancient culture. During the Millennium, there will only be three nations in the Middle East. Assyria will be one of them. This would suggest that at some point the Northern part of Iraq and Iran, all or much of the Southern part of Turkey, Syria, and at least part of Jordan, will be the Assyrian nation. “In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land.” (Isaiah 19:24).
Much bigger and broader than the ancient lineage is the connection of the coming Antichrist to Satan. He will be the slickest masquerader ever produced by Lucifer. The making of this evil character has been centuries in Satan’s planning. He is not a flash in the pan but a well prepared imitation. He will have a partner in the False Prophet that will probably imitate all the works of the Holy Spirit. He should be called the false anointing. Under Satan’s tutorage, these two personalities will finalize a “one world religion” that cleverly unites all religions together.
The new evangelicals and Charismatics are preparing the groundwork. No group of religious people are better at doing the devil’s work than those that have most recently slipped into compromise and deception. The evangelicals and Charismatics are deeply involved with the Catholics in putting the finishing touch on Satan’s future church. If she is not already, she will soon be the “moon-clothed woman with the sun under her feet.” Remember, the church in the previous chapter is pregnant with the man-child even as the massive organizations are slipping into vile deception. God has a people hidden in many quarters of the world awaiting the call from the sky. We will learn more about this woman riding the beast in chapter seventeen.
“And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.” Revelation 13:1-3
The Middle East is clearly the geographical center of the rising Antichrist. The United Nations of Europe will slowly connect with the Middle East as the revived Roman Empire regains its footing in the needed order. Iraq had to become a democracy in its own unique style because the Antichrist will begin by flatteries, not by military powers, “And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries:” (Daniel 11:32a). The Antichrist, an Assyrian by nationality, will be connected to the ancient city of Babylon and that nation. Rising out of the sea as he appears certainly ties him closely to the Mediterranean Sea and the political powers within its vicinity. He quickly unites the political powers and becomes the leader of the emerging Roman Empire, but especially its ancient Eastern wing. His rise to power and his coalition of political partners will be blasphemous in nature and will bear a decidedly anti-Israel and Antichrist tone.
All the power of the past world empires of Biblical order will be united in this last worldwide kingdom. The lion was Babylon; the bear was the Medes and Persians; and the leopard was Greece. Everything embracing them geographically will be gathered together in this last one world order; Satan will manifest great authority and evil powers in the appearance of this beastly personality. Many government personalities are already using strange occultic methods in deceiving the masses. Satan can transform a dull person into a magnetic persona that suavely moves undiscerning people. The Antichrist will be the ultimate Dale Carnegie type individual. The New Age has become extremely adept in personality transformation and the Antichrist will be their master personality.
Supernatural signs will become a way of the one world government to control and deceive. Adolf Hitler turned Germany into a nation of beasts, and he was certainly a precursor of the final beast. One of the Antichrist heads will be wounded to death and a miraculous recovery will occur. He will perform such a display of strange powers and religious miracles, that he will dazzle the world and they will wonder after him. The world has developed a cultic mindset over the last few decades. Rock stars, authors of best-selling books, movie stars, and many personalities are practically worshipped and thronged at public events. All of this is in preparation for the final event of human deception.
“And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.” Revelation 13:4-6
Finally, Satan has accomplished the one thing his heart has been set on. The world sees his creation of the false Christ, the Antichrist, whom the world believes is the long awaited “messiah.” Every religion has a distant hope of the final answer to the world’s problems. The Christian world has the expectation of the return of Jesus Christ, the Jews are still expecting their Messiah, the Muslims expect their Allah, and each religious entity is expecting their own redeemer. Satan will reveal himself as the great sovereign one that can unite all religious hope in one great person, his false Christ. The display of religious powers will be so paranormal and dazzling that the world will worship the one viewed as the creator of such seeming perfection. Satan will revel in his glory.
The blasphemy coming from the Antichrist’s mouth will be awesome. This will not be the blasphemy of the ugly, but the blasphemy of the distorted beautiful. The entire religious world is already glorying in statues, icons, and art forms of different expressions. The choreographed dance is one of the church world’s darkest deceptions. Statues that are proclaimed as anointed, especially where grace is reportedly connected, have already been accepted in Charismatic circles. Millions follow apparitions of Mary. Some writers are describing visions and dreams of incredible creatures and experiences. All kinds of extra Biblical occurrences are preparing the way for religious blasphemy. To assign anything to God that is clearly occultic is blasphemy. To claim to be God is the worst form of blasphemy. To imitate the Son of God is a dark hideous form of blasphemy.
Satan especially blasphemes everything that is heavenly about God the Father. When the Father and the Lamb sent angels to cast him out of the midair, he lost all ability to travel in the stratosphere of God’s domain. Notice that he blasphemes God, His name, His heavenly tabernacle, and those that dwell in heaven. He certainly hates the Father because he is now forbidden to appear in His presence. He is the Sovereign God, and Satan has sought to replace God with himself. He has totally failed and nothing but hatred can now find expression in his disappointed heart. The tabernacle of God is the grandest location in the entire universal system. It is glorious, even beyond words. Paul saw it and was left speechless. Satan has visited it at every opportunity the Father allowed, but now it can only be a distant dream to Satan; and he blasphemes it with vileness. He blasphemes everyone that dwells in this matchless place.
“And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If any man has an ear, let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.” Revelation 13:7-10
Satan will be restricted to the earth and his last recourse against God will be to attack all that worship or name His name. In the previous chapter some repentant saints were protected for the first three and a half years, but during the last half of the seven years they will be an open field. No living soul will be protected from this beast in the last three and one half years. Believers will die by the millions. Jews will be slaughtered mercilessly. The world will be subject to Satan’s final rage.
Multitudes will escape his fury by turning to this antichrist in worship and adoration. Unless they have turned wholly to Christ and had their names written in the Book of Life, “all that dwell on the earth” will not have any power to resist. Satan gets his worship but it’s at the tip of a sword. The Bible calls Satan “the God of this World.” This last one-world system will give Satan this one short window of opportunity, and he will ride the glory to his own destruction. John was so moved by this revelation of Satan’s final days that he paused to say, “If any man have an ear, let him hear.”
The results of evil are always the same. There is no capacity in sin to continue. This universe was created in moral order and everything else is out of order. Sin and rebellion cannot survive anymore than a building engulfed with flames. Sin destroys itself. The words, “He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity,” is a perfect example. There is no power in evil to survive. The patience of God’s saints is to watch sin as it is destroyed and know that “right always prevails.” Learn, dear souls, to turn from sin as you live holy and set apart.
“And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.” Revelation 13:11-12
Satan cannot present himself as God unless he has all the appearance of the Biblical picture of God. He must produce a false messiah and that false messiah must have a shadow spirit or person to imitate the Holy Spirit. This second beast is an imitator of the Holy Spirit and serves this false Antichrist like the Holy Spirit served Jesus Christ. This beast comes up out of the earth. He is demonic and either possesses a man or takes on the form of a man. (I suspect it is the latter.) The phrase, “two horns like a lamb,” is a masterful play on words. Lambs do not have horns, but this beast is lamb-like in outward demeanor but vicious in character. His false piousness will capture the world for the Antichrist. That same spirit is already being manifest in false prophets and prophetesses all over the world.
His first action is to bring glory and honor to the first beast and enlist the world to worship the Antichrist. He does not take the honor for himself but perfectly imitates the experience of Pentecost. Most of our world has rejected the Pentecostal model given in the Book of Acts, which has created a vacuum for this false beast. The healing of the deadly wound on the first beast becomes a rallying cry. This is a clear picture of what happened in the first century church when the Spirit of God used the church to powerfully call the world to honor the Lord Jesus Christ and his redeeming sacrifice. The false prophet will bring the world to the feet of this false messiah and they will worship him as the “Christ.”
“And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” Revelation 13:13-15
People always resist the thought of actual miracles coming from the devil. Men are inherently superstitious and see nothing but good in unexplainable occurrences. Discerning the false from the true is almost totally missing from today’s world. While the Bible makes it plain that Satan and his trinity will not deceive everyone, it does make it clear that there will be a majority that falls at Satan’s feet.
The miracles will be spectacular, even to the point of causing fire to fall from the heaven in a dazzling display of paranormal powers. This second beast will declare the glory of this new “christ” and will deceive the world into making a great image in his likeness. Twice, this false spirit has invoked the miracle of the first beast. His wound has become a redemptive event and his resurrection from the wound, the proof of his authenticity. The one-world religion will be the tool of this vicious man/beast. He will use all the powers of the church world to impose his will on the world. The total political, total religious, and total economic world will be united for a short time. It will be an awesome unity that tramples the world under his feet.
Something happens that is ever more ominous. The false spirit moves upon the image and gives it life. The image takes on human characteristics and powers, and it becomes a worldwide display. Such overwhelming manifestation comes from this beastly image that its presence is dazzling. Men and women will swoon just to look on this image and will go into esoteric states of euphoria. The fleshly pleasure from this image will be an experience of religious glory. Healing will occur on a worldwide basis as television, internet, and radio carry the message to the world. The church will call it a worldwide revival.
“And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.” (Revelation 13:16-18).
A worldwide revival where everyone is first invited and then, secondly, required to attend will become a universal event. The church will not allow anyone to resist. The new trinity will proclaim itself “the way” and every belief contrary to “the way” will be proclaimed as heresy. All heretics (all those that resist the worldwide phenomenon) will be enemies of the church or the state and must recant, repent, or die. To assure repentance there will be issued a “mark” of conversion and a tattoo that all can read. The economic world will be totally supportive. The church will be in charge of the “mark,” because it will be their “mark” of faith and devotion. It will be required worldwide and will be displayed with great joy and devotion.
The world is presently preparing for such economic control. The thieves of the world have contrived a multitude of ways to steal wealth and even identities. This is forcing the world to prepare for a perfect plan of protection. That protection will soon become control. The policy that says, “no man might buy or sell without the mark,” will be instituted to protect the economic system but will quickly become the tool of the church. It will be instituted as a sacred bond between the world and this great image. The promise of protection will be attached. It is actually going to be an extension of the many religious trends that are growing in frequency.
“Here is wisdom … it is the number of a man.” Nothing reveals the Antichrist better than this statement. Unbridled flesh, the raw appetite of the Adamic nature, and the wildest possible life of sin is what the “mark” of the Antichrist will represent. The land will be full of pedophiles, animalistic sexual exploits, sado-masochism, and deeper and deeper vileness will continue until human flesh is worse than the worst beast. It will all be manifest with complete religious acceptance. To take the mark will be like becoming a human animal.
The Antichrist and the false prophet will give the devil his masterpiece of deception. Satan knows he has but a short time, so it will be an all out war. When this deception is complete, it will then turn on its head and God will expose and judge. Satan always over plays his hand. He is an idiot god and will finally be cast into the bottomless pit but destined for the Lake of Fire. His two beasts will go directly to the Lake of Fire at the end of these seven years.
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